Blues to Green – best known as the nonprofit that presents the free, annual Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival – uses music and the arts to center the cultures of the African diaspora within American culture, nurture personal freedom, strengthen multicultural community, and catalyze action for racial and climate justice. Inspired by famed musician Charles Neville and founded by his wife, Blues to Green is a small but mighty nonprofit grounded in leadership from Black Springfield community members. Learn more at bluestogreen.org.
Programs:
- Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival – A free, family-friendly annual music and arts festival in downtown Springfield, MA showcasing music & culture of the African diaspora, including: jazz, blues, funk, Latin, & African music, plus dance, spoken word, education connecting music history to racial and climate justice, & local crafts. The festival promotes arts access, social justice, environmentalism, & economic revitalization in Springfield.
- Arts for Racial & Climate Justice – Through concerts, talks, and film, this program uses story and conversation to connect music of the African diaspora with struggles for racial and climate justice. The Beyond the Storm film project highlights the resilience of Springfield and Holyoke’s Puerto Rican communities in the face of climate injustice in Puerto Rico and Massachusetts, using arts and testimony to spark dialogue and community reflection.
- Legacy Education Project – Brings acclaimed musicians into Springfield and Holyoke public schools to teach music, history, and literature through African diasporic music. The Legacy Education Project helps counter white-centric curricula, connects Black and Latinx students with their cultural heritage, inspires young people through direct collaboration with working artists, and uses the arts as a powerful tool for engagement and learning.
- Celebrating Charles Neville – Programming that shares the legacy of saxophonist Charles Neville. The museum exhibit Horn Man: The Life & Musical Legacy of Charles Neville first displayed at the Wood Museum of Springfield History traces his journey—from growing up in a working-class New Orleans family surrounded by Black New Orleans musical and spiritual traditions, to touring the segregated South, to incarceration within a racist criminal legal system, to struggles with addiction, and ultimately to worldwide acclaim. His story is an inspiration.
